Full of adventure, wit, and charm, No Rules, the fourth in the Friday Barnes Mystery series is a rollicking ride that takes the reader from the recycled air of an airport in Switzerland back to the less than hallowed highways of Highcrest Academy.

Upon her return to school, Friday Barnes finds the school in an uproar. Things get serious when Iain Wainscott finds himself summarily expelled from the school, leaving Friday’s love life rather empty. What follows is a comic adventure as Friday solves mystery upon mystery with her friend Melanie right beside her (when she isn’t sleeping) and does her best to get Iain reinstated in the school.

Like all the books in the series, No Rules has the signature language and logic so unique to Friday. The side characters are just a little bit ridiculous and the mysteries just absurd enough to be gentle. The series on the whole is a lot of fun and will find audiences among a variety of age groups. Readers who like mysteries as well as readers who like comic tales will gobble this one up. Though it marketed to a MG audience, older readers will like this one as well.

Strong heroines who solve mysteries for rather mercenary reasons, interesting side characters and a hint of romance. What else could you want? Recommended.

Janet The Whole Truth and And Nothing But the Truth by Kit Pearson. I realize I’m very late to the party, but WOW these books are excellent. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. I was pretty sure I’d like this, but the reality was a whole new level of liking and nagging thoughts. Feathers by Jacqueline […]

Janet The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines: Jewish girl in the USA, 1942, begins detecting the disappearance of a classmate, while hiding her activities from her father and hiding her identity from her classmates. Shot in the Dark by Janet Whyte: biracial boy with degenerating vision (and a great deal of anger about […]

This is a meme by The Broke and the Bookish and we’re kinda in love with these lists. We’ve done this topic before, but I’m going to assume we have new books to add to this list. And just to put us all at ease let’s pretend that we’re also in charge of the adapting […]

Hardcover, 288 pages Published August 9th 2016 by Roaring Brook Press Source: Raincoast Books You may remember Friday Barnes from when I gushed about her in the review of her first book. If not, let me refresh your memory. Friday Barnes is a girl detective who detected her way to a super elite boarding school […]

Janet I am going to interpret this question to include series that I am waiting for the next release in, even if I am not reading any of its component books at this exact moment. The Old Kingdom books by Garth Nix. October (and Goldenhand) feels very far away. The Lion Hunters cycle by Elizabeth Wein. There […]

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme started and maintained by brokeandbookish.blogspot.com. Today we will be talking about the upcoming releases we’re most excited for. Nafiza Rani Patel in Full Effect – Sonia Patel I want this nowwwww. Friday Barnes Under Suspicion – R. A. Spratt I adored the first one so much that my expectations […]

… or at least make you chuckle? (Top Ten Tuesday is a meme by The Broke and the Bookish. Join in the fun! Let us know your picks in the comments sections!) Janet Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. The Beautiful Game by David Skuy. I grinned through vast swaths of the book. The dialogue is […]

Hardcover, 272 pages Expected publication: January 19th 2016 by Roaring Brook Press Source: Publisher “…no one likes working with children,” argued Friday. “They’re unhygienic and disrespectful, and they have a limited resource of information on which to draw their small talk.” “You’re a child,” Miss Harrow pointed out. “Which is how I know,” said Friday. “I […]

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